Monday, October 23, 2017

Aappudayar Temple, Thiru Aappanoor, Sellur – Legends

Aappudayar Temple, Thiru Aappanoor, Sellur – Legends
Aappanoor:
King Cholandhagan was a staunch Lord Shiva devotee. During his reign, the land was fertile and prosperous with timely rains. Farm yields were plenty. His subjects were happy. All this was due to his devotion to Lord Shiva. He went on hunting on a day. As he could not succeed in chasing a deer, he felt fainted at last. Shocked attendants offered food and water to the king to recover from the weakness. The king said that he could not afford to take food before doing his usual Shiva Puja. There was no Linga for the puja.
A wise minister fixed a wooden piece (Aappu) on the ground as Shivalinga and suggested that he can worship and take his food. The king believed the minister, worshipped the Aappu and ate his food. He found then what he worshipped was not a Shiva Linga but a piece of wood fixed on the ground by his minister. He cried to the Lord that if he was indeed his devotee, Lord should come into the Aappu and accept his worship. Lord appeared on the Aappu and became Aappudayar. The place came to be known as Aappanoor.
Anna Lingeswarar:
During the period of another king Suguna Pandya belonging to the same dynasty, the place faced a severe famine. Yet, the priest of the temple grew some grains with difficulty and was offering the Nivedhanas to Lord. Seeing this, people grew angry on the priest and harassed him for his feeding the Lord while people were starving. The priest fell at the feet of the Lord for help. Lord asked the priest to follow him with his wife and set on his Rishaba to another place. He stopped at this place – Aappanur. As Lord stopped here on his Rishaba - Idaba in Tamil, this also came to be known as Idabapuram. The priest used the sands of the Vaigai River to cook the Nivedhana for Lord. By the grace of Lord, the sand became rice-Anna. This event brought the Lord the name Anna Vinodhan / Anna Lingeswarar.
Punyasenam becoming Kubera by the grace of Lord Shiva:
Punyasenam in the lineage of Lord Brahmma was a staunch Shiva devotee. As advised by Sage Agasthya, he performed severe penance on Lord Shiva to become as wealthy as Kubera. Pleased with his penance, Lord Aappudayar with Mother Sugantha Kundalambikai granted darshan and the boon he sought. But as fate had it, he became immediately arrogant and cast a mischievous look on Mother and lost his eyes and fell dead. Merciful Lord Aappudayar gave back his life and called him Kubera. Since then, he became the Lord of North with two wealth – Sanga Nidhi and Padhma Nidhi.